[Feature Request]: Fusion search engine for monolith rspress projects

[zoolsher]

What problem does this feature solve?

In complex and large-scale projects, the current search functionality lacks classification capabilities, making it difficult for users to efficiently find the information they need. As the volume of project data increases, unclassified search results can get lost in the vast sea of information, leading to imprecise search results and decreased user productivity. By providing a search feature with classification capabilities, users can more accurately and quickly find the information they need based on specific categories. This makes the search process more purposeful and efficient, thereby improving user experience and work efficiency.

What does the proposed API look like?

add category to meta

step 1. Configure all available categories in rspress.config.js

export default {
  search: {
    categories: ['css', 'html', 'foo', 'bar']
  }
}

step 2. Declare a document’s category

---
category: ['css', 'html']
category: 'css'
---

The markdown content

UI for search with category

UI for search without category

Q&A

Can document writers add any category they wish?

No.

The categories are defined by the search engine, so they must be a fixed set controlled by the project configuration.

What if a markdown file does not specify a category?

It will automatically extend from its parent folder. The root folder will have a default category, which is the first one in the categories set by default. You can also specify this with the following configuration:

export default {
  search: {
    categories: ['css', 'html', 'foo', 'bar'],
    defaultCategory: 'foo', // defaults to 'css'
  }
}

Support for custom sources?

If a developer wants to add custom categories such as ai, discord qa channel, or github issues, where the name, content, and display are all customized, they can use the category plugin feature. Here’s how:

export default {
  search: {
    categories: ['css', 'html', 'foo', 'bar'],
    categoryPlugins: [{ 
      name: "baz",
      search: (context) => {
        // Code to execute when a user searches within this category
        return SomeReactComponent;
      }
    }],
  }
}

[chenjiahan]

Declaring a category for each document is quite time-consuming. We should allow declaring categories for all documents in a specified directory.

This can be achieved through Rspress's meta.json file:

[
  {
    "type": "dir",
    "name": "css",
    "label": "CSS",
    // I prefer using `searchCategory` instead of `category`, because it is more explicit
    "searchCategory": "css"
  }
]

https://rspress.dev/guide/basic/auto-nav-sidebar

[zoolsher]

Declaring a category for each document is quite time-consuming. We should allow declaring categories for all documents in a specified directory.

This can be achieved through Rspress's meta.json file:

[
  {
    "type": "dir",
    "name": "css",
    "label": "CSS",
    // I prefer using `searchCategory` instead of `category`, because it is more explicit
    "searchCategory": "css"
  }
]

https://rspress.dev/guide/basic/auto-nav-sidebar

Yes, I have included it in the QA section. It will automatically extend from the parent folder.

[chenjiahan]

For the categoryPlugins, we can passing the path of the React component instead of importing thg React component. Because rspress.config.ts is a Node.js file and should avoid importing React components.

export default {
  search: {
    categories: ['css', 'html', 'foo', 'bar'],
    categoryPlugins: [{ 
      name: "baz",
-      search: (context) => {
-        // Code to execute when a user searches within this category
-        return SomeReactComponent;
-      }
+     search: path.join(__dirname, '/path/to/search.tsx'),
    }],
  }
}

[zoolsher]

For the categoryPlugins, we can passing the path of the React component instead of importing thg React component. Because rspress.config.ts is a Node.js file and should avoid importing React components.

export default {
  search: {
    categories: ['css', 'html', 'foo', 'bar'],
    categoryPlugins: [{ 
      name: "baz",
-      search: (context) => {
-        // Code to execute when a user searches within this category
-        return SomeReactComponent;
-      }
+     search: path.join(__dirname, '/path/to/search.tsx'),
    }],
  }
}

Yes. I'm just trying to make it easier to understand what happened in another file

[chenjiahan]

Nice👍 Let's do it

[Timeless0911]

If a mdx file in a folder needs to override some categories already set in folder dimension, we can use both frontmatter or _meta.json to config?

[zoolsher]

I believe we can keep it simple like this.

// fake code
thisDocCategory = mdFileHeader.category ?? parentFolderCategory

[Timeless0911]

I believe we can keep it simple like this.

// fake code
thisDocCategory = mdFileHeader.category ?? parentFolderCategory

Where does parentFolderCategory come from? You mean every folder should have a same name mdx file to config category for the whole folder, or all files in this folder should use the default value of search.defaultCategory? Maybe some folder do not have a index entry mdx file.

[zoolsher]

From the meta.json